Living in a very heavily Jewish area, Purim preps around here started several weeks ago. The grocery stores rearranged all their candy aisles and tons of other stores are selling their beautiful pre made purim baskets, some of which look like little mini wedding presents and cost just about the same. Dont even get me started on the candy stores! Since when did “themed” mishloach manot become part of the mitzvah. It has gotten out of control! I dont need an apple clock to match with the “apple” themed basket. What does a non food item have to with giving on Purim. Nothing- its just a way for people to try and out-do and impress their friends.

Whatever happened to the good old fashioned shaloch manos that we used to give to everyone that consisted of a hamentashen, maybe a piece of fruit and nuts on a paper plate. Now, everyone makes hundreds of bag/baskets for their kids to hand out to all their friends, teachers… Which would be semi ok, if we didnt already dish out a ton of money to be a part of our School or Shuls lists. So not only do we pay for our school/shul we then give to the same people again with more homemade baskets! this is insane!

With all that being said, I am looking forward to seeing what new candy items will be hitting the bags this year. We always end up with piles and piles of candy. Most of which eventually ends up in my husbands office.

My daughter went to a fancy 6 year old birthday party and they gave out these awesome hula hoops with refillable gumballs as the party favor. This is a genius idea and its great that you can refill it. My kids love it. It’s not so easy to actually hula hoop with it, but it sure is fun to try.

It has an OU hecsher and can be bought at the candy store near me in Monsey ny. iCandy. I think it’s about 9.99 each.

I found a website that sells similar fun filled hoops. dont think these are kosher, but this is the idea.

The other day my husband bought me a wonderful surprise. He bought my favorite chocolate…Godiva . He didnt just buy a small box that I could easily eat in 5 seconds, he bought a 36 piece set. I had self control and didnt open the box the right away. I wanted to savor every bite. Let me tell you, it was worth it. Each bite is heaven. I made sure to hide the box so my kids do not get a hold of it. They love Godiva just as much as I do. My favorites are the praline, ganaches and truffles.

One of my favorite parts of Godiva is they give you a a little picture guide of what each chocolate is. There is no more guessing or biting into one flavor I might not like…which is usually the jelly/fruit ones. I always give those to my husband who’s happy to get something, because usually there isnt anything left after I open it

I am so thankful that the majority of their truffles are kosher. Whenever I get their catalogs in the mail, I always check to see if they added any new products to their kosher list. None of their baked goods, like cupcakes are kosher. I could only imagine how amazing they are.

The only down side is that they are not cheap. You can sometimes find great deals after major holidays like Valentines.

I recently just read an article that the OU is certifying some new Kosher candy from Tootsie, Blow Pops, Tootsie Roll Pops and the like. While I am happy that these new candies are coming out, I am still waiting for my childhood dream candy – Skittles – to become Kosher certified. I did some research and found that Wrigley’s is the company that manufacture’s Skittles, Starburst and Life Savors, all of which are amazing candies but not Kosher. What could we do to change this situation?

Living in a very populated Jewish area, there are tons of candies out there in our supermarkets, but none are copies of any of the Wrigley’s types of candies. Leave your feedback and let Wrigley’s know how many people want to see them Kosher!